


Rin!!! On Ice

by addictedtofiction7190



Series: B-day Notps: Trade your frown for your friend's smile [3]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Yuri!!! on Ice Fusion, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Haru breaking the fourth wall so hard it should be renamed Wall Maria, Haru is a more sassy Yurio, Having way too much fun with tagging and will probably add more, M/M, Rin is a more angsty Yuri, Sousuke is a less flirty Viktor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-10-02 20:25:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10226573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/addictedtofiction7190/pseuds/addictedtofiction7190
Summary: Rin didn't know what happened. It felt like a couple of days ago when he was crying alone in a washroom shall after suffering a huge defeat. After his sister released a video of him skating to one of his idol's routines, said idol showed up proposing to be his coach at an onsen completely nude. Now, he was headed for the Grand Prix with his idol right by his side. Desperately, he  tries dialing down the angst and shark teeth in fear of scaring away his idol. Somehow, he'd even obtained himself a rival in the form of fourth-wall breaking dolphin. What ever impossible dream he was in, Rin wished he'd never wake up.AKA that weird YOI AU with SouRin as Viktuuri that nobody asked for.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DusDaDwarf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DusDaDwarf/gifts).



  
  


_ “For the fifth time in a row, Yamazaki Sousuke takes home the gold medal, placing first in the Grand Prix!” _

 

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Matsuoka Rin, a twenty-three year old skater, left the competition placing last. As always, he failed to capture the attention of the audience and judges, earning him sixth out of the six finalists. It was pathetic. He made it to the finals numerous times yet, he never placed on the podium. He didn't know whether that was laughable or worthy of tears; both, he concluded. 

 

It was a few moments after the announcement of the winners. Rin was in a washroom stall, crying his heart out while his idol, Yamazaki Sousuke, was outside celebrating his glorious win. He could hear the cheering, the cries of congratulations being thrown around. It stung his ears, made them bleed. 

 

He was bitter and envious. He wanted to be out there, be with the crowd. Placing first, second, or third didn't matter; as long as he placed it was fine. Sousuke was also there, someone he looked up to, his motivation, his inspiration. He wanted to take home the gold, stare at his idol straight in the face as he receives his medal of acknowledgement. He wanted the recognition, wanted his muse to see him as a rival, a threat, someone who was worthy to stand beside him. Rin longed for his inspiration to acknowledge his existence. He yearned for the certification the medal would have granted him, a reassurance of his career. To give him hope that skating was the correct choice in his life, that his passion drove him down the right path. He wasn't so sure anymore. Time and effort was put into training, practising, perfecting the routines he performed. All of that effort just for a bunch of people to tell him that he wasn't good enough. 

 

It annoyed him. He felt discouraged. The determination he previously owned, it wavered. The flame of the candle could only withstand so much wind, it was a matter of time before his fire extinguishes, when the wind becomes too strong for him to handle and the blows were too hard to recover from. Rin was at crossroads. Should he even continue skating? He wasn't winning any titles or making any bold claims in the figure skating world. Was this path even worth it? To have all his disappointment attack him each time he didn't meet his standards- every time he failed to achieve a position on the damn podium. 

 

Maybe this instance was the time for him to give up, for the retirement that was eventually going to happen anyways. Why should he continue if he lost so much? 

 

_ “Cheer up Rin, you'll be better next time.” _

 

_ “You’ll always have next year!” _

 

_ “Aww. I bet with enough hard work you’ll do it! Keep trying!”  _

 

The words of encouragement felt fake. Meaningless. It stung like a thousand needle pricks every time he hears a comment meaning to motivate him. The comments added to his burden, to his mental stress. They drove him insane; not one of them understood. Wasn’t he trying his best already? He did work hard enough, he fought with teeth and nails to obtain the position he sits at today. Rin was already leagues above everyone, he was among the top. At the top, but not at the  _ peak _ . 

 

Tears were spilling down his face but he made no efforts to dry it. Fuck it. Rin was tried. He’d never leave the stall, there’s no motivation or reason to. He was going to stay until someone forcibly remove him and kick him out. His future was undecided. To skate or not to skate? Even Shakespeare wouldn’t know the answer. 

 

Rin received a phone call from home, from somewhere where comfort was usually found. Not today. Ideally, family was where you could be yourself, drop any forms of acting and be honest to the ones you care about. Real life is different from ideals; nothing was ideal about it. Rin lied. He faked joy, emotions he was far from feeling and put up the most concern dispelling front he could mustard. Never once did his voice crack, never once were the sounds of his choked sobs conveyed through the call. He ended it with a promise, a return to his roots. 

 

He bellowed a frustrated cry when the phone was hung up. His hatred of the world and anger at his failure self was mingled into the scream; a cocktail of all his negative emotions. His life was pathetic. It was proven by the fact that he shut himself inside a washroom to wail and drown in his own misery. 

 

Enough was enough. He should stop; the sobbing was meaningless. Rin took a shaky breath, stood up, opened the lock to the stall, and marched outside feeling depressed and unsure of himself. He froze when piercing blue orbs stared directly at him. Oh shit. He wasn’t alone in the room. 

 

“How long have you been standing there?” Rin demanded, tears still fresh in his eyes. 

 

The raven haired eavesdropper remind silent. He was clearly a skater, the jumpsuit was the clue Rin needed to piece the puzzle together. Strange, he haven’t seen him before in any of the competitions despite his presence here. He gave Rin a blank stare, scanning him and analyzing him. To be honest, Rin was a bit creeped about by the actions of the skater. 

 

“You should retire,” the skater deadpanned. 

 

Rin was shocked. Someone he barely knew just told him to give up his career? He was a little offended and hurt. Rather, anger started to bubble and fizzed inside him. 

 

“Why should I !?” Rin challenged. 

 

“The ice is alive. Once you glide in, it will immediately send its chills and attack. But there’s nothing to fear. Don’t resist the ice.” Eyes of cobalt return the challenge and they were locked in a staring contest, neither were about to lose.

 

“Umm… Are you okay?” Rin felt one of his eyebrows rose in question, never breaking off the stare and losing the meaningless battle of the eyes. He wasn’t about to surrender another battle and let a victory escape from his grasps; he couldn’t handle another defeat, especially not something as simple as this. 

 

“Thrust your skates onto the surface and carve a path. Then you slide your body tracing that path. Moving your arms, your head, your feet…” the black haired skater cut off his sentence and held his breath for dramatic effect. 

 

Rin was waiting, immersed and intrigued by the stranger with blue eyes. When no more words were coming out of the unknown person’s mouth he felt a slight bit of disappointment. Wanting to hear more of the speech, a question was proposed. 

 

“Moving your arms, your head, your feet… Then what?” the inquiry was mumbled. 

 

Silence was the response that came from the receiver of the query. He remained unfazed, as if he didn’t hear a word from Rin at all. The bearer of teeths like those of sharks were beyond pissed by his reaction, or lack of thereof in this case. He clicked his tongue in an annoyed manner while clenching his fist together; marks were left from his fingers engraving itself within his palms. 

 

“Oi! Didn’t you hear me!?” his voice was raised, loud enough that even a ninety year old person on the verge of becoming deaf was able to detect the demand. “Don’t stop in the middle of the sentence. Finish it.”

 

“What else should I continue with? That was the end,” Rin shook his head in disbelieve and huffed. 

 

“That can’t be it! I mean it doesn’t make sense if you leave it there!” shark boy tried to reason with the raven haired stranger.  

 

“Blame the writers of the show for leaving my first speech like that,” he retorted. 

 

“What writers?” the maroon haired skater was puzzled and had no idea what nonsense the other skater was spewing out. 

 

Once again, the answer came in the form of silence and a deep meaningful look. His cobalt eyes, daggers piercing Rin’s own upon contact, made the latter flinch, pushing him to the verge of withdrawing from the unofficial battle of the oculus. Rin was persistent however, deeply rooted to the idea of achieving a single win today via conquering a staring contest… which in hindsight, shouldn’t have been something he placed on a podium over the other ambitious goals he had in life. 

 

“Why are you so quiet?” Rin finally spat out after a long period of uncomfortable silence. 

 

“This is my character type,” he stated stone faced. 

 

“What?” Rin was beyond baffled. Did this mysterious stranger come from outer space and somehow disguised himself as a functional human being? Where this conversation was going, the stranger might as well proclaim that his name was 707, a hacker from an otome game specializing in breaking the fourth wall, if the ridiculously exchanged of question and randomly generated answer pursued.

 

“Okay, wait. I just realized, who the hell are you?” 

 

“I’m free,” was yet another unforeseen statement. Rin was beginning to get fed up. It was as if he was having a conversation with a brick wall, or as the old Chinese saying goes, like playing piano to a cow (Rin questioned the sayings the ancient Chinese chose to pass onto their children). The person on the receiving end cannot be understood despite the amount of effort put forth by the igniter of the conversation. 

 

“Nice to meet you free, my name is Matsuoka Rin,” the red head decided to dial up on the sass. Fight fire with fire. Or, as they say, an eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind… Rin needed to find more suitable expressions. With the reminder about eyes, the maroon haired skater quickly held his gaze against that of the ‘free’ oddball. He was not about to go down without a battle, a war which he shall emerge victorious from. 

 

“Rin, in an alternative universe you are nothing but angst-filled so I would appreciate it if you don't break character by throwing some shade at me,” was bluntly stated by the maverick.  

 

At this point, Rin was being to question the humanity of the personnel standing right in front of him. He was an unmistakable nutcase for peculiar things that gushes out from his mouth. The blue eyed eccentric had the same facial expression edged onto his face throughout their whole conversation; the look of calmness and boredom. 

 

Even the staring competition was impossible with the stranger. ‘Free’ had his eyes wide opened the whole time during their eyes’ confrontation. Rin inwardly admitted that he may or may not have blinked a couple of times during the life or death combat of the orbs (it was a possibility, just a possibility, a very likely possibility). Pride barricaded the voice confessing defeat, therefore, Rin will stall out the battle as long as he wasn’t called out for his cheating (the other participant probably doesn’t even care about the unofficial ‘contest’, he realized a little too late). 

 

A comeback was caught in the competitive man’s throat, existing, but not birthed into the world. How the hell does someone rebuttal the words of a madman until they are speechless and reduced to a state of being tongue-tied? Rin stride to achieve the unachievable. Taking a few moments to analyze the sentence previous said by the black haired skater, a retort was formed at the tip of Rin’s tongue; built up lightning ready to be discharged. 

 

“So in this alternative universe, your name is also ‘Free’?” Checkmate. Bail was put on the fishing hook, what needed to be done then was to wait for the mackerel to take it. 

 

“No, it was Nanase Haruka, a man who only swam free… Plus medley relays,” he added as an afterthought. 

 

A smirk manifested itself on Rin’s face, temporarily nesting itself and letting the redhead gloat in the bliss of outsmarting the bizarre free swimmer. The victory felt a little anticlimactic; Nanase Haruka was a relatively normal sounding name (a bit girly for a male, but normal nonetheless). He would have preferred if the blue eyed oddity was named something more out of this world; Itachi, Hayashi, and Saruwatari all seemed more fitting to be names for the man who only swam free (and medley relays) than  _ Nanase Haruka _ of all names. 

 

Nanase Haruka. Haruka Nanase.  _ Haruka _ . Rin couldn’t quite wrap his tongue around the name. Nanase felt too formal, a bit… awkward and unfriendly (not that they were friends). Haruka sounded too feminine, unfitting for the skater with masculine facial structure. The maroon haired, shark fanged, previous swimmer in a reincarnated life juggled the name around his head, searching for a suitable way of calling the acquaintance.

 

Everything felt off. For whatever strange reason, Rin felt  like calling the black haired boy’s something informal, as if that was the only way he should ever refer to Nanase Haruka. Then, it hit him. Whatever the ‘it’ was, he was thankful that it came in the desperate time of need and bodyslammed itself onto Rin, causing the moody skater to experience his first eureka moment (an exaggeration, but Rin didn’t have too many of those breakthroughs). 

 

_ Haru.  _ It was short, simple, and easy to pronounce. The two syllables were so natural, so right. Formalities be damned, Rin immediately put to use the short form and said good riddance to  _ Nanase Haruka.  _ He swore, if he’d ever (mentally) said the name again, he would literally gag and choke on disgust. 

 

“Haru,” Rin was please with how well the nickname worked, “please do yourself and everyone else a favour by booking an appointment with a doctor. You really need to get your delusional issue solved.” Rin would have snapped but that would have been overkill. 

 

“And you need to go see a therapist to fix your self-esteem issue. I have my own issues like every other human being. However, I don’t measure my self-worth by whether or not I could win in a race against my childhood friend unlike a certain someone. There also wasn’t a need to have a gay angsty make up with the childhood relay group, that only happened due to a shota’s boyfriend offering his chance to be part of his team to a crybaby shark in hopes of mending a broken team.” 

 

“What?”

 

“What.” 

 

In that moment, Rin knew.  _ He was done with life.   _

 

“I’m just going to leave now,” Rin murmured while slowly backing out of the washroom. 

 

“Fine,” he heard the insane raven head call from behind him. “Just don't go all the way to Australia.” Rin left before anymore ridiculous comments were made. 

 

_. _

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At the airport, Rin felt like he was going to suffocate. Usually, he loved the busy atmosphere with people rustle and bustling around, going places. The excitement of tourists and explorers lingered in the air; Rin always felt re-energized from the commotion. Not today.      

 

The joy of those around him was like a stabbing pain attacking his head left and right. The usual thrill of hopping on a plane and heading to different locations was not present. This time, unlike the rest, he was going home broken and defeated. The thrill was gone, and so was Rin's hope for his future. 

 

Honestly, Matsuoka Rin had never been more lost in his life. Should he continue his pursuit of skating? Is it time to stop? It's time to stop. At least, it's time to aim for other career choices in life rather than competing in competitions he wasn't cut out for. 

 

The maroon haired skater seamlessly wandered the airport in a trance. He was walking about, not searching for anything in particular. This state was like his default mode whenever he didn’t have a clear goal in life. During his aimless wandering, he bumped into a kid. The kid sheepishly apologized; Rin scared him off with a shark teeth revealing snarl. 

 

He sighed and eventually made himself comfortable at one of the public seating areas. The flight he was bound to take was set to depart in another hour. There was time to kill, Rin just didn’t know what to occupy himself with. He resorted to quietly brooding in his seat and eavesdropping on bypassers’ conversations. 

 

The act itself wasn’t illegal, rude, but definitely not something someone could get arrested for. Rin would feel shame or regret if he wasn’t so bored out of his freaking mind. The blame for his boredom fell onto the shoulders of his coach, er, former coach ever since Rin began to doubt continuing with skating. Rin’s coach was the one who ordered the tickets so according to Rin’s logic, his action of eavesdropping was his coach’s fault. 

 

The bored redhead’s sneaky ways was quite harmless. The conversations he did manage to catch where mundane everyday small talk. A boy was begging his brother to bring back a limited edition action figure as a souvenir, boring. A couple who haven’t seen each other for a month just reunited and were sucking face in a public area, gross. The most interesting interaction that occurred during his listening in experience was when a pregnant lady was begging her boyfriend/husband/whoever the hell he is to stay and not abandon her. The conversation turned dark when the lady threaten to break the man’s game console (Rin got shivers from the threat) and eventually that swayed the man to remain with the hysteric lady. Seconds after the vows of not hopping on the airplane, the women fell onto her knees and her water broke. Rin decided he had enough drama for one day and sprinted away from the desperate pair calling for help. No way in hell was he going to stay there and witness childbirth; health class already traumatized him enough.  

 

On his way to find a quiet, empty place to die (wait until his flight arrive), his ears picked up on the one voice he’d be able to recognize anywhere, Yamazaki Sousuke. His head whipped towards his idol’s direction so quickly, a loud snap was heard coming from his neck. Rin chose to ignore the pain and instead and focus on staring intensely at his idol. Who cares if he might have accidentally permanently damaged his neck? Certainly not Rin who is too busy occupying himself with spying on the fit skater to even notice any sort of agony he is suppose to be experiencing. 

 

Oh shit oh shit oh shit. As if his mind was a broken record, looping the same two words over and over again, Rin was freaking the fuck out because holy gods, Yamazaki Sousuke was standing ten metres away from him, looking as hot as a Calvin Klein model (granted the gold medalist did make it to the cover of several magazines; nothing related to underwear nevertheless). Have you ever seen a man so beautiful that he’d make you bust into tears from his beauty? Rin is staring at that man right now and he could feel oncoming tears. If it wasn’t for the fact that he spent an hour the previous day crying until his tears dried up, he’d be drowning in a pool of salty fluid right now. 

 

As if possessing a sixth sense, said gorgeous tear-enticing turned away mid-sentence from the blue eyed oddball Rin met in the washroom and made eye contact with the panicking maroon skater. It must have been Rin’s imagination but he swore the stunning, hot as hell Grand Prix winner just flashed him a charming smile pairing with a freaking wink.  _ A freaking wink. _ Yamazaki Sousuke will be the death of Rin and Rin will die with no regrets (except maybe never placing for the Grand Prix, or not getting recognition from his idol, there was also the fifty dollars that he didn’t collect from Gou yet; he had a lot of regrets actually).

 

_ This situation cannot be freaking real.  _ Not only did Rin’s inspiration make eye contact with him (honestly that would be enough to make Rin faint on the spot) but he also started to wave at him. Sousuke’s teal orbs lit up in recognition upon connecting with Rin’s own bloody red ones.  _ Rin forgot how to breathe. _

 

“Hey, do you want to take a commemorative picture together?” the offer was shouted to ensure the red eyed skater could hear it loud and clear. 

 

Rin’s eyes widen to the size of saucers. He froze on the spot, a deer caught in headlights (rather a shark tangled in a fishing net).  _ What is happening.  _ Did Yamazaki Sousuke, the freaking winner of the Grand Prix five years in a row, just ask Matsuoka Rin, the skater who placed sixth in the finals, to be in a photo together? Did that just happen? 

 

When silence was the only response received by the best skater in Japan, he began to take a few steps closer to Rin. He seemed quite enthusiastic on getting his desired picture with the younger skater. Sousuke took his time walking over to Rin. He sauntered step by step, carrying himself with grace, acting like a movie was being filmed and this moment was the final dramatic scene between the love interests. The amount of metres separating them decreased by the second. In the blink of an eye, there were only five metres left before full on collision. Scratch that, it lowered to four. Three. Two…

 

Before one was reached, something snapped inside of Rin. He fell out of his trance and began to realize exactly what was happening. He gave a horror filled look to his idol before running away from him like an escapee from prison. His mind was mentally cursing himself with swears thrown around every other word. The heart was pounding like a drum solo being smashed in the middle of a rock concert. Adrenaline brought him to the washroom stall where he hid until the arrival of his flight was announced over the loudspeaker. Rin never wanted more than ever to die of shame in that stall and be done with life. 

 

Meanwhile, Sousuke was left at the scene baffled and a bit hurt. Didn’t the younger skater want a picture together after what they’ve been through? He retreated back to where he left his blue eyed companion and felt disappointed. A look of confusion settled itself onto his face. The companion didn’t express any reaction to the awkward interaction he just witness, opting to remain silent after muttering a single phrase.

 

“Looks like he did run to Australia after all.”

 

Sousuke decided it was best to not question the raven haired skater.

 

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The flight took three hours. By the time Rin arrived at his hometown, the sun began to drift from its peak to sinking towards the west. There wasn’t anyone waiting for him at the airport, exactly how Rin desired. The shark fanged man didn’t even bother notifying his family ahead of time regarding his return. He decided it would be better to show up unannounced at the door steps of his family-runned onsen inn. 

 

That plan was actually working out nicely, until his sister sneak attacked him. She climbed onto his back expecting the wavering piggyback ride to hold. Rin would have dropped her right there if it wasn’t for his brotherly duties to put up with whatever nonsense his younger sister decided to do. Gou clung tightly to her big brother and squealed whenever he tried to shake her off. Rin reached up to ruffle her hair, earning more delightful yelps. He missed her. He missed home. 

 

His mother came a minute later after hearing the commotion outside of the inn. She looked like exactly how Rin remembered her, beautiful and radiating a warm glow. Her teeth were on display as she gave him a tender smile. The smile soon turned into laughter as she noticed her daughter’s antics. Gou, positioned on top of her personal horse, commanded his brother to charge at their mother. Rin sighed seeing his sister’s behaviour but obeyed nonetheless. The three family members shared a loving hug for a solid minute before they released each other in order to help Rin settle in back home. 

 

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Usually, before dinner the two siblings had to assist their mother around the inn. However, seeing as it is Rin’s first time back home in a long, long while, she let the two off the hook and gave them free roaming privileges (as long as they got back in time for dinner). Rin hastily thanked his mom before he was dragged off by the embodiment of hyperness.

 

Gou didn’t even need to tell her brother where they were headed. They had the same location in their mind, their default comfortzone. Their destination was nearby; only a ten minute walk from the inn, hence the frequent visits. A couple years back, the siblings would go everyday after school for a couple of hours until their mother beckoned them home. The place felt like home, it still did feel like home. Rin owned a spare copy of the key and everything. The owner was a close friend of their family and gladly gave the siblings free rein over the place. 

 

Ice Castle Samezuka, Rin’s second home. The availability of the local ice skating rink was a big influence in shaping Rin’s life. When he was younger, Rin’s father passed away. The death made him close off from the world. He rarely talked, ate, slept, and even stopped going to school. The emotional scar became so bad, a professional had to interfere. Rin attended therapy sessions; they didn’t do anything for him. His therapist told him to find a passion to stride for, something he really enjoyed. Rin didn’t have a passion, an aspiration, something he enjoyed. 

 

Everything changed when he was watching television and ice skating came on. Yamazaki Sousuke stole the show. He literally didn’t remember anyone else in that competition, the only one he saw was Sousuke. From then on, Rin began researching the figure skating world. Seeing his sudden interest in skating, his therapist and family encouraged him to pursue the interest and get lessons at the Ice Castle Samezuka. The rest was history. 

 

“I missed this place,” Rin pointed out while inhaling a deep breath, familiarizing himself once again with the local ice rink. 

 

The rink wasn’t anything special. It was barely above average compared to other rinks Rin trained at and definitely nothing compared to the one at the Grand Prix. One thing that made the rink different from the rest was the memories it held. Rin’s skating career began at this local rink. He would spend hours a day, training, skating away his problems until he felt exhausted and his legs gave up on him. Coming back to the rink was like looking at old baby photos and videos; a rush of nostalgia.   

 

“Gosh I haven’t been here you last visited,” Gou was skipping around inspecting the rink. 

 

“Why? Didn’t you like coming here often? You’d always follow me here after school and sit on one of the benches to do your homework.” 

 

“That’s exactly it,” his sister answered. “With you. There wasn’t really a point once you left for your training and contests…” she trailed off. 

 

“I’m here now,” Rin reassured. “How’s life by the way? It has been a couple of months since I’ve last seen you. Are you enjoying school?” 

 

“Don’t rub it in my face,” Gou huffed. “You are lucky you don’t have to go school ever again. I wish I could be like you and have my career be my ultimate passion. Speaking of passion…” she dragged out the sentence with a devilish smile. 

 

“Did anything happen with Sousuke? After all, you were in the same competition, meaning you had plenty of time to get to know each other,” a wink and a grin was sent in Rin’s direction.

 

Rin gave his sister a scowl and bit his lip. He tried to formulate a reply. She was right, there was time and motive for the two to interact. Except, Rin didn’t want to make a fool of himself in front of his idol; therefore, no interact actually took place. In the end, he concluded it would be safer to try and dodge his sister’s question altogether rather than let something embarrassing slip.

 

“You still didn’t answer my question about school yet,” he prayed this statement would be enough to make his sister drop the subject.  

 

“Well, school’s you know, school. I have to finish this year and next year will be my final year of highschool. Truth be told, I’ll miss going to school. On the other hand, the idea of freedom once you graduate sound much better. I’m kind of worried about the future to be honest. I still didn’t narrow down my career path yet. Not everyone can be like you big brother and make a living out of skating,” Gou gave a distressed sigh. 

 

“You’ll find your way, I know you will.”

 

“Thanks brother, but you aren’t going to escape my question with that.” Rin shook his head and accepted the fact that his sister was a nosy little teenager who would want gossip on anything and everything. 

 

“Why do you want to know about my interactions with Sousuke!? We are barely even acquaintances. Nothing more, nothing less,” his disappointment could be noted within the sentence. 

 

“Please, you are obsessed with him. May I remind you who went to the pet shop to buy a goldfish right after you found out Sousuke had a goldfish. Heck, you even named the fish ‘Sou-chan’ and got super attached to the point where you literally hid the fish in your backpack and brought it to school.”

 

“When Sou-chan finally moved on, you sobbed for weeks, refusing to let go of the fishbowl containing Sou-chan’s dead body. Finally, you decided to let go of the dead fish but nooooo, traditional rituals of goldfish burial weren’t good enough and you refused to flush the body down the toilet. You made us take a family trip to the ocean where you gave an eulogy and sang a freaking lullaby to a freaking unresponsive corpse before you threw said corpse into the ocean. A second after the corpse touched the water, a bigger fish came by devoured Sou-chan. You screamed for an hour straight and tried to go into the ocean yourself to find the fish and avenge Sou-chan. When you couldn’t, you tried literally to drown yourself for thirty minutes before you decided it was pointless due to the fact that you kept swimming instinctively.”

 

“...”

 

“That’s right brother, you are so far gone for the skater,” Gou let out a triumph smirk. 

 

“Gou… You just proved I love my pet goldfish, none of that was about me liking Sousuke.” Gou’s smirk faltered a little but didn’t completely disappear. 

 

“Would you have loved the goldfish so much if you haven’t projected your idol onto the pet?” 

 

Rin did not confirm or deny his sister’s assertion. 

 

“Moving on…” he said to steer clear of further interrogation from his sister. 

 

Just as Gou was about to protest, Rin moved onto the ice and glided to the opposite side of the rink, running away from his problems. Gou rolled her eyes but knew she’d have future opportunities to make her brother spill. 

 

“Do you have any requests on what you would like to see your brother skate?” Rin yelled from across the rink. 

 

“Anything is fine. Can I film it?” 

 

Rin didn’t hear anything after ‘anything is fine’ with a performance already contriving in his head. He scrolled through his phone, selecting the desired song and hooked up the phone to the speakers. Gou deciphered the lack of response as a go ahead and readied her own phone to capture the about to be performed routine. 

 

Music blasted for a few seconds before his cue came to start moving his body. Rin emptied his mind, halting the thoughts swirling inside his brain. Instead, it was time for his instincts to take over, for the body memory to come into power and assume control. 

 

Rin felt liberated during the execution. His body, light as a feather, naturally danced across the ice, conducting jumps and fancy footwork left and right. A true sight to behold indeed. The maroon haired skater felt content at the outcome. Even though he was just but a mere copy who could never surpass the original, the feelings he managed to release made his heart tingle in delight. Soon, the music came to an end. Rin positioned himself into the final pose, shutting his eyes gracefully and slowing down his quick paced breathing. 

 

“That was amazing!!!” Gou handed her brother a drink when he came out of the rink. 

 

“It was just something that I wanted to try out. I know I’m not as good as him, but I still practiced hard on this routine. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed that little experiment,” Rin said in between breaths. 

 

“Are you kidding me!? That was freaking incredible! You were like a perfect copy! Kise Ryouta’s copying skills don’t even come close to yours! And here I thought you would be too busy being depressed to do anything else. I’m so proud of you,” Gou gave her brother a bone crushing hug. 

 

“Let me go! Stop crushing me!” Gou complied. “Jeez, you have a strong grip despite being years younger than me.” To demonstrate her childishness, Gou stuck her tongue out. 

 

“To be honest,” Rin started with hesitation, “I was a bit moody over my loss. I considered giving up skating, that thought is still currently being considered. However, skating this… It made me realize why I love skating in the first place. I don't think I can truly give up something so major about my life.” His younger sister scoffed at his answer.

 

“Figures. Of course you would resolve your debate about continuing skating while skating a Yamazaki Sousuke routine. I have to admit, ‘Clear Blue Departure’ is a beautifully choreographed routine that wonderfully complements the selected song.”

 

“This isn’t about Sousuke, okay? I did some travelling before I came home. I did a lot of thinking before I made this choice.” Rin denied before going back onto the rink. He blocked out the rest of the world when a new piece of music allured him to match the beats. 

 

Gou was left by herself. Fiddling with her phone, she sat down on one of the benches and observed her brother’s skating form. After a while, thoughts of the routine she previously filmed invaded her mind, distracting her from focusing on the live version. Gears shifted in her head, connecting to breed a genius idea (or a horribly disastrous one). With some editing and touch ups, the video became more professional and smooth. Maybe the skating otakus would enjoy this.

 

Gou knew, there was no going back once she uploaded the video to YouTube and Niconico. 

 

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Rin woke up on the floor of his bedroom. He had overslept. Deciding it was too much effort to get up, he laid still for a few minutes before reaching for his phone. He groaned when he caught a glimpse of the time; 12:57. The red eyed skater just wasted half of the day wandering around in dreamland with dreams he can’t even recalled upon waking. 

 

A few seconds were taken before a realization hit him in the face. There were numerous notifications about missed calls and texts displayed on his lock screen. He had no clue why so many calls and texts collected over night. 

 

Once he checked, the contents were relatively the same. Aside from a few old friends wanting to hang out after hearing he was back in town, the rest were all about a video. Some messages were gibberish with nothing but a link to a YouTube/Niconico video. Rin was about to ignore the messages when some key words caught his eyes : ‘Matsuoka Rin’ ‘Clear Blue Departure’ ‘Yamazaki Sousuke’. 

 

Rin didn’t have to click on the link to know what all the commotion was about. He threw his phone on his bed and gave a frustrated moan before calling for his sister. Gou came parading into his room with a bright smile on her face. That smug little shit. 

 

“You went viral,” she told him as if that wasn’t the most obvious thing in the world. “Not that you weren’t before,” she added.

 

“Gou, why the hell did you post that video!? When did you even take it?” Rin was taking deep breaths to calm himself. 

 

“Yesterday, duh. Besides, I asked you and you didn’t object so I interpreted that as a go ahead. Technically, you’re at fault for not listening. Plus, it’s not that big of a deal; everyone loves the video. What’s the harm when all the skating otakus are having a field day with this leak?”

 

“I-I…” Rin was seething in anger due to the lack of negative backlash. Gou was right, no harm was truly done. If anything, this stunt gave a boost to his publicity. 

 

“Mom wants you to come for breakfast,” his sister told him before she ambled away. 

 

Rin collapsed on his bed and buried his face into his pillow. He took a minute to compose himself before he walked out of his room. 

 

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The minute saw his mom, he thought he was having a bizarre hallucination. She was cradling a goldfish within her arms as she greeted him. What the fuck. 

 

“Morning Rin. A handsome guest just came by this morning and brought his goldfish. Sure does look like Sou-chan doesn’t it? He said something about the name being Kisumi-”

 

Rin never ran so fast in his life before. He accidentally bumped into a couple of customers on his rampage to the onsen portion of the inn. The maroon haired skater almost stopped when his sprint for the hot springs knocked down a kid. Then, he remembered the possibility of a naked Yamazaki Sousuke at his onsen and decided the kid could sue him for all he cared. 

 

Decency be damned when Rin charged into the onsen checking every possible pool of hot liquid for his hero. He was scarred for the rest of his lifetime by a few old men but carried on the search for the model-like skater. 

 

Finally, he scrambled to a deserted pool and was met with well-built back. Sensing his presence, the owner of the muscular body rotated to reveal his identity.  _ No fucking way _ . Yamazaki Sousuke was there, in all his naked glory, standing a few metres away from Rin at his family owned onsen inn. What is life?

 

“Sousuke? Why are you here?” Rin’s voice was cracking embarrassingly and betraying him. He honestly wasn’t expecting Sousuke to physically be here because why the fuck would a hot as hell skater come to an unheard of onsen when said skater should be out training and winning competitions.

 

“Rin, starting today, I’m your coach.” Sousuke gave him a dazzling smile and stretched his hand towards him like an offer for contact. “I’ll make you win the Grand Prix Final,” he promised. 

 

Rin faintly remembered a high-pitch shriek, worried whispers, and the feeling of water coming in contact with his body before his whole world faded to darkness.   

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday Abby!!!!!!!!!! May your wisdom grow along with your age. Please teach us your ways senpai! In all seriousness, I wish you the best in life and hope you'll have a wonderful year. I'm a bit sad we had to cancel our meet up for today but I hope at least this short thing will shine a little light on your big day. Thank you for always being there whenever I need you, thank you for being an amazing person in general. I hope this would make you laugh and bring a smile on your face because you deserve to be happy! Also, once I post this I will no longer have to shoulder the weight of not giving you a present ;) I'll never stop the shoulder jokes :)
> 
> I just realized I wrote most of this in the middle of the night, hence the reason why everything is random. Why did I name the goldfish Kisumi? Why is Haru a skater when he should obviously work for a wall-wrecking crew? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> Thanks to anyone who is reading this fic and I apologize if none of the characters are in character, this is solely written for entertainment purposes so to heck with characterization (jk I will make put some effort into stopping Haru's fourth wall breaks). Have a nice day!


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